Favorite Jack Kerouac book?

Discussion in 'Beat and Hippie Books' started by TreeFiddy, Sep 3, 2005.

  1. BlackBillBlake

    BlackBillBlake resigned HipForums Supporter

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    Hard question - but I'd have to say it's a choice between 'On the Road', which I found a big turn oin when I read it about 30 years ago or so, and 'Desolation Angels' which is the book of Jackie's that I have to say moved me the most inside. Christ, he was a great writer...:D
     
  2. Arnar

    Arnar Member

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    lonesome traveler is pretty freaking great
     
  3. DroneLore

    DroneLore h8rs gon h8, I stay based

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    I only read On the Road and Tristessa. I honestly can't say I preferred one over the other On the Road was great but got tedious toward the end. Tristessa was obscure, but had absolutely wonderful language. The plot was almost irrelevant, such was the beauty of his prose.
     
  4. Delfynasa

    Delfynasa Member

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    I had trouble with the sexism in Dharma Bums but enjoyed
    most of the book very much. I also liked Some of the Dharma
    (I think that is the title-its been awhile its the big fat book of
    notes on Buddhism which I gave to a hippy friend to make her
    smile) and Scripture of the Golden Eternity, and his short story
    of why his cat was cool:-D
    It is a drag that his end was so sad and lonely.....
    bb
    Delfynasa
    now I have to go back and try to finish Desolation Angels,
    couldn't get into it the first time.
     
  5. Delfynasa

    Delfynasa Member

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    I have a life goal to hike to that lake in the Sierras
    that they went to in Dharma Bums. That and to
    read Howl out loud outside the City Lights bookstore
    in San Francisco.
    bb
    Delfynasa
     
  6. TheSystemOrange

    TheSystemOrange Member

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    Big Sur and Dharma Bums
     
  7. kerouaconacid

    kerouaconacid Member

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    On the Road and Dharma Bums, for sure.
     
  8. Maxlenomade

    Maxlenomade Member

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    On the road is my favorite, It's the book that made me want to go travel on my own..
     
  9. metalgypsy

    metalgypsy Member

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    Dharma Bums.
     
  10. SamanthaHazelEyes

    SamanthaHazelEyes Member

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    'On The Road' is fantastic. :)
     
  11. TheTruthAndPeaceSeeker

    TheTruthAndPeaceSeeker Member

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  12. Opinionated

    Opinionated Member

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    I absolutely loved Dharma Bums! My mom read it in college for a literature class and when I got in touch with the hippy side of myself she suggested it to me. She said she didn't think she ever finished it, because she couldn't get in tune with the Buddhism in it. But that was my favorite part! I think Japhy made the whole book feel relaxed...I hated it when he left. The only problem I had was with Princess and how women were portreyed. As a feminist, I didn't like how the women only seemed like sexual objects. However, he did grow up in the 40s and 50s, so while I don't like it, I understand it.
     
  13. Gyro Gearloose

    Gyro Gearloose Senior Member

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    Hello,

    jepp, every author is a child if his own time. Even later in the hippie movement or in the civil rights movement women were often only 'decoration'. They did typical women jobs and were often not heard in discussions etc. And looking at todays free software movement for instance, we have to ask about the changes that took place in the last decades. I don't know much about the feminists view of the world ;), but I guess there is plenty of room to improve the situation. Anyway, back to the books. Since yesterday I'm re-reading Dharma Bums. Knowing this book and On The Road I prefer Dharma Bums for some reason that I can't describe exactly.

    Regards
    Gyro
     
  14. slothropstarot

    slothropstarot Guest

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    On the Road, obviously
    Desolation Angels
     
  15. DiscoPhish

    DiscoPhish Member

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    i just got done reading a collaborative novel from jack kerouac and william s. burroughs called "and the hippos were boiled in their tanks" it was written about ten years before anyone knew about either of them and its really great stuff i recommend it to any kerouac/burroughs fans
     
  16. sydrduke

    sydrduke Member

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    Big Sur for me, hoping to read Dharma Bums soon!
     
  17. Altered Ego

    Altered Ego Member

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    On the Road
     
  18. Paisley Skye

    Paisley Skye Member

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    though quite short, i really enjoyed "the subterraneans". beyond that, it's a toss-up. basically he was the master of free-style prose. i owe alot of my poetry style to his influence.
     
  19. gilligan420

    gilligan420 Member

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    I like most anything i have read from him.
     

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